Blog

Today is not a blog day. It is a newsletter day. So, this is a "bletter" or a "blotter." I want this invitation to spread wider than my newsletter. My invitation is for you to participate in a life-transforming project. My title was "An invitation that will make a difference through the Matthew Paradigm." It was...
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What makes a good listener? The accompanying Chinese symbol for "listen" incorporates the characters for ear + eyes + undivided attention + heart. This combination is an insightful description of how we listen well. Recall that, in prayer, we listen before we speak. Does this describe how you listen to God? In the...
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Are you a good listener? For most of us the busyness and stress of daily life robs us of valuable skills for listening actively. U2 captures something of our frenetic lives: “speed dialing with no signal at all”[1] – much activity devoid of true purpose. Those reading this blog include businesspeople, police...
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Understanding can make all the difference. A lumberjack bought a new kind of saw: a chain saw. The saw was guaranteed to cut dozens of logs a day. Wearing himself out, he only managed to cut one log a day. Returning to the store, the lumberjack complained. The store owner pulled the cord and the...
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An atheist, a fatalist, and a self-seeker met at a party. Their conversation turned to why they did not pray. The atheist said, “there is no god, so you’re not praying to anything.” The fatalist said, “God has already decided what he’s going to do, so you’re wasting your time.” The self-seeker said, “prayer is...
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John Pavlovitz, A Bigger Table: Building Messy, Authentic, and Hopeful Spiritual Community. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2017. Pp. xiii + 192, paper, $16.00 (USD). John Pavlovitz (JP) begins with the laudable goal of building a “bigger table” to which more people can be invited. This is both an actual...
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Of the numerous books on prayer in my library, most of them are from the 19th or 20th Century, Western, and Evangelical. Although they have been helpful, in many ways, they all say much the same things. Is this all there is to say about prayer? People from other ages and other traditions have other...
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Have you made a new year’s resolution for the coming year? Many of us are afraid to make resolutions because we’ve failed too many times. According to the Journal of Clinical Psychology (University of Scraton), 45% of Americans make resolutions – only 8% achieve them. If your desire is to make a resolution to...
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Could Mary have said 'No' to Gabriel, God's messenger? If she could, what does that mean for you? The Annunciation Gabriel’s announcement to Mary – the Annunciation – is recorded in the ancient and holy text of Luke 1:26-38. Take a moment to read and ponder this rich scene. As you read, you’ll note that Gabriel...
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Why shepherds? Have you ever wondered why angels appeared to unnamed shepherds at night outside Bethlehem to declare a message of universal importance? Luke 2:1-20 locates us geographically, historically, and prophetically. The ancient prophet Micah foretold that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)....
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